Practicing vs. Preaching

I'd like to say (just for the record) that it's a LOT easier to preach a sermon than it is to live it out. It's easy for me to imagine that I'm actually doing what I tell others to do (simply because I talk about it a lot).

When I was ten, I broke my wrist when I crashed my BMX bike attempting a totally gnarly jump. The dirt-mound was at least 8 feet tall. The air-time seemed like an eternity. I was at least 10 feet up. I panicked when I realized I wasn't going to land it. The memory is crisp in both detail and emotion.


The only problem is that most of it is fiction. A couple years ago I saw a photograph of that moment (not the one above... that is what is in my memory). I was crushed. I had about 3 pathetic inches of air. My front tire got stuck in the loose dirt and I went over the handle bars. My parents verified that I did break my wrist. At least I got that part right.

With years and years of retelling the story, I had fabricated details, emotions and thoughts that never actually happened. In my own skewed memory, I portrayed myself as a significantly more rockin' BMX'er than I really am.

Because I talk with others about all this Bible stuff all the time, it's easy to fool myself into thinking that I live it as vividly as I talk it. Also, if I'm inspired by a great teaching and can recite the points that were spoken, it's easy to imagine that it's made a difference, even if I haven't done anything to incorporate those truths into my everyday life.

That's why honest, accountable relationships are so vital. Starting with the Lord (inviting Him to search me and know me... and it's VITAL that He's first, otherwise all my other relationship are bound for bitterness and resentment). Then my wife (talk about constant accountability!!!). Then my kids (their emotions and behavior are a great litmus test). Then my leaders (not my buddies, but people who I look up to and who I know love me). Then my ministry-peers (iron sharpens iron). Then the people I'm leading (being open to input and inviting toward those whom I've hurt or offended). Then the rest of the world (does my lifestyle reflect Jesus' love to those who have no idea who He is?).

Why that order? Because when I'm trying to impress people who don't know me well, I do it at the expense of those who are closest to me. But if the people who are closest to me come first, then I am changed into a man who can truly impact the rest of the world. I want the people who are closest to me to be the most impressed and proud of me.

Honest, accountable relationships are like that photograph. Sometimes I'm pleasantly surprised because they tell me that I'm doing better than I think I am. At other times, they provide a painful dose of reality. But at all times they are worth their weight in gold because they ensure that I get the blessing of practicing what I preach.

Grateful to the Core

I was taught a little rhyme as a child. It went like this:

Thank you and please
Are two little keys
And when you use these
You may do as you please.

Notice how gratefulness is offered as a means to an end. If I really want something, I should act grateful. Selfishness, not gratefulness, is at the core.

That's a struggle for me. Sometimes gratefulness becomes a performance to keep others happy, an act to hide my shame, or to get what I want. But when I put on a facade, my heart is hardened. And then I'm easily embittered when I don't get what my good performance deserves.

Everywhere in the Bible, gratefulness is linked with Jesus. What He has done for us is indescribable and unbelievable. What He has won for us is imperishable and inestimable. No matter what we're going through, He's been through worse. And He did it so that we wouldn't have to. As we put our hope in Jesus and contemplate all that He's done for us, there's no room left for selfishness. Why would I hold anything back from the One who has given His all for me?

Although I regularly find myself whining and griping about problems, pains, and people, I am powerfully brought back to humility and gratefulness when I remember how much I've been forgiven and at what cost. For someone like me who is being healed of gratefulness-as-an-act, those moment of true gratefulness-to-the-core are precious beyond words.

Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who according to His great mercy has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, to obtain an inheritance which is imperishable and undefiled and will not fade away, reserved in heaven for you, who are protected by the power of God through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time. In this you greatly rejoice, even though now for a little while, if necessary, you have been distressed by various trials, so that the proof of your faith, being more precious than gold which is perishable, even though tested by fire, may be found to result in praise and glory and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ; and though you have not seen Him, you love Him, and though you do not see Him now, but believe in Him, you greatly rejoice with joy inexpressible and full of glory, obtaining as the outcome of your faith the salvation of your souls. 1 Peter 1:3-9

Notice how Peter does not just command us to "be thankful." It's not a legalistic, performance-oriented requirement. Instead he's saying, "When life stinks, remember that Jesus died for you!" When we worship Jesus in the middle of our pain, He empowers us with peace and joy that are beyond our natural ability (which is the same empowerment He received from His Father when He worshiped in the midst of His suffering).